Ginn Jr. hopes to run before draft

INDIANAPOLIS -- Former Ohio State wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr., who sprained his left ankle in an endzone celebration in the BCS title game against Florida, is attending the NFL scouting combine this week, though he can't participate in drills.

Ginn returned the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown, the eighth kickoff/punt return for a touchdown at Ohio State. But his left foot got caught under a teammate in the endzone.

"Usually, I hand the ball to the ref," Ginn said this afternoon. "It was a team thing."

Ginn declared for the draft, bypassing his senior season at Ohio State.

"I hope they look at what I did in my years in college, that I was a nice player," he said.

Ginn had 59 receptions for 781 yards for the Buckeyes in 2006. He called his injury a mild foot sprain, "like a high ankle sprain."

He also said the success of Chicago's Devin Hester as a Pro Bowl kickoff/punt returner as a rookie might help Ginn in the draft.

"His success, if he can do it, so can I; we have the same kind of ability, the same kind of speed," Ginn said of Hester, who returned the opening kickoff in Super Bowl XLI for a touchdown. Both the Bears and Buckeyes lost.

Ohio State's pro day for NFL scouts is March 10.

Ginn is considered a first-round wide receiver prospect, along with Georgia Tech's Calvin Johnson, Southern Cal's Dwayne Jarrett, South Carolina's Sidney Rice and LSU's Dwayne Bowe.